MAP's Blargosphere

Written by MAP

Monday, 07 February 2011 19:55

Well, being furloughed at home for the last week has been tough. My employer expects to be in this furlough until early March; and that's a long time to go without a stable paycheck. I've been looking at lots of different job opportunities. Honestly, looking for a new job is a full-time job in itself. There are tons of sites and new methods for finding jobs. Attempting to open all available lines of communication for potential employers is a massive undertaking. Beyond utilizing my own personal website (Job Fun link at the left), there are a number of free services for job seekers that I've been aware of for a while and some I only recently discovered. For instance (in no particular order):

http://tweetmyjobs.com/
- This site maintain a list of locations which allows me to subscribe to a twitter channel that alerts me of new job postings, as they are discovered. In my opinion this is a fantastic use of the popular social networking site. I can see new tweets instantly, be it at my desk or via my android phone. Love. It.
http://www.careerbuilder.com/
- Free job searches can be subscribed to as RSS feeds or automated search agents. My use of Google Reader lets me keep dibs on the RSS feeds quite easily, and significantly lowers my inbox clutter with search agent results. RSS makes me a happy panda.
http://www.dice.com/
- Just like CareerBuilder, Dice.com is a free job-search portal allows for RSS feeds based on search results. Dice specializes in high-tech careers and so gives me very relevant results; include telecommuter positions.
http://www.flexjobs.com/
- While FlexJobs isn't free like the previous sites, it specializes in telecommuting jobs; which is extremely relevant for me. It's very similar to other job portals so any new sign-ups will be comfortable with the navigation and job-search methodology. There are a great many jobs listed of all kinds, and they do a good job of keeping it updated. The add value to the service by including things like skills tests that can make you more attractive to potential employers.
http://www.monster.com/
- I've probably known about this one for the longest. This site really seems to give the most complete experience and options, but gives the fewest (read: none) jobs found. This may simply be due to the fact that they've had time to really stroke their organization and search algorithm to be the most precise. The other sites tend to give several results for generalized queries but with low relevancy to my particular skills. It also allows for RSS feed-based searches to be saved and that makes me happy.
Resources discovered from previous jobs
- I've done a lot of networking in my time at other jobs. This is particularly easy to accomplish if you do any sort of customer care or consulting work. As part of one previous position I am acutely aware of several community portals that are relevant to my profession. Taking advantage of these lets me hone in on what's happening on a day-to-day basis with the community. Not only does it let me get my information out to the community at large, but also keeps me informed of what's happening. Continuous learning in high-tech fields is an absolute must. As a system administrator I'm not only used to it, but also enjoy the constant stream of new information.
Word of Mouth
- Talking with friends in the field can be extremely beneficial. Not only to keep bridges open, but also to find out new openings that they may have heard about. In my experience this one is usually under-utilized, but it seems like it shouldn't be. In these times of social networks generally everybody is your 'friend' and can see what is going on with you in day-to-day life. This one should be the easiest. The first day I talked about being furloughed through an email list of friends I started getting feedback on careers that they heard about. Having this type of access to data is priceless.

While the website resources are helpful with their automated data gathering they won't notify you if you don't keep on top of them. Check the resources a few times a day. Make a little checklist, and streamline the process to make it easy.

Also, keep your resume up-to-date. Keep it simple, relevant, and easy to read. Most of the sites above (if not all) have hints, tips or full resume builders that you can use for free. While these are generally quite good, it's also helpful to get perspective from real people too. Have someone you trust review it and offer constructive criticisms.

Finally, and probably most important, don't give up hope. Once you do then you're certain to find nothing. A job isn't going to simply fall into your lap. You have to get out there and do some digging. Good luck to everybody still looking. There's a light at the end!

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